A4-0471/98

Resolution on the report from the Commission on the evaluation of the Third Community Action Programme to assist disabled people (HELIOS II) 1993-1996 (COM(98)0015 - C4-0152/98)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the report from the Commission (COM(98)0015 - C4-0152/98),

- having regard to Articles B and F of the Treaty on European Union,

- having regard to Articles 13 and 137 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (consolidated version),

- having regard to its resolutions of 13 December 1996 on the rights of disabled people ((OJ C 20, 20.1.1997, p. 386.)) and 11 April 1997 on the Commission communication on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities ((OJ C 132, 28.4.1997, p. 313.)),

- having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (CES 1347/97) on that communication,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A4-0471/98),

A. whereas the most tangible success of the HELIOS II programme has been that disability organisations have become aware of the active role which they are called upon to play at European level in raising public awareness of and promoting the rights of disabled people and that a permanent dialogue has been initiated with the Community institutions,

B. whereas in addition the programme has helped, at the outset merely through the exchange of experience and information, a clear Community policy guideline to emerge, a guideline embodied in the Commission's abovementioned communication on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities and the subsequent declaration of the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States on the same issue, both of which stress the need to enable disabled people fully to exercise their rights in the same way as any other Union citizen,

C. whereas the level of involvement in the HELIOS II Programme by disabled people or the parents of disabled people who are unable to represent themselves and organizations composed in the majority of disabled people or their parents was nevertheless unsatisfactory,

D. whereas this shortcoming shows the need for Community programmes to lay down concrete financial and organisational support measures in order to remove the obstacles to the involvement of disabled people and their organisations,

E. having regard to the insubstantial nature of the programme's achievements in terms of special knowledge, structured opportunities for dialogue, comparison and dissemination of good practice, and, last of all, raising public awareness, and the need, therefore, to lay down an action plan enabling these assets to be consolidated and further developed on the basis of the strategy laid down in the Communication on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities,

The current political background

F. whereas the draft Treaty adopted in Amsterdam clearly lays down the scope of Community action on behalf of disabled people, namely combating discrimination and social exclusion,

G. whereas a large proportion of disabled people (the most seriously disabled or elderly disabled people) would still be excluded from information and exchange of experience if all EU social programmes were labour-market oriented,

H. whereas the proposals presented by the Commission concerning the new regulations on the Structural Funds adopt an across-the-border approach to the problems of disabled people (mainstreaming),

I. whereas serious obstacles to the involvement of disabled people on an equal basis still exist in society in general and in the labour market in particular,

The current political background

1. Calls on the Commission to draw up an action plan with the following aims:

a) to continue to offer structured opportunities for dialogue and consultation with NGOs and to facilitate contacts with all the Commission's directorates-general with power, within the field of Union policies, to help give disabled people equal opportunities and to combat discrimination against them;

b) to give the interservice group dealing with policies for disabled people a clear and universally recognised role within the Commission, for example by placing it directly under the authority of the Commission's Secretary-General, and to provide that that group must regularly consult disability organisations;

c) to develop further contacts with the governments of the Member States within the context of the high-level group of experts so as to promote multilateral exchanges of information and experience and to open up this group to other national groups with power to help disabled people fully to exercise their rights;

d) to promote contacts between the group of experts and disability organisations at both national and European level so as to continue the work of exchanging information and raising public awareness begun by the HELIOS II programme:

e) to analyse, classify and make available, particularly on its own Internet site, the material produced within the context of the HELIOS II programme of interest to workers and disability organisations, including the Guide to Good Practice, and to ensure that it is updated with the involvement of all interested parties;

2. Welcomes the viewpoint emerging within the Commission and confirmed by the European Parliament in its deliberations on the budget for the financial year 1999 that specific measures for disabled people should be laid down in the forthcoming programme to combat discrimination based on Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam and within the context of future action to combat social exclusion pursuant to Article 137 of the same Treaty;

3. Takes the view that this approach corresponds the most closely to the intentions of the Treaty and at the same time allows both pro-active and responsive policies to be developed in relation to the challenges facing disabled people, by exchanging good practices and actively encouraging and testing innovative approaches;

4. Recalls the requirement that both programmes should, along the lines of the HELIOS II programme, continue to encourage growth at all levels of the various forms and experiences of voluntary associations and organisations and collective groups representing disabled people;

5. Believes it to be essential, in the light of the experience gained during the HELIOS II programme, to guarantee specific measures to encourage the involvement of disabled people and calls, therefore, for the resources made available to them to be clearly specified in both those programmes;

6. Hopes, in addition, that the legislation setting up those programmes will contain clear, binding provisions concerning the involvement of disabled people and disability organizations in which the majority of the members of their governing bodies are disabled persons or the parents of disabled people who are unable to represent themselves, and will lay down specific mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the programmes;

7. Believes that the measures on behalf of the disabled taken by the European Social Fund can only be made effective by strengthening the provisions on the evaluation (either exante or expost) and monitoring of the situation of disabled people on the labour market;

8. Applauds in this respect the initiative recently taken by Eurostat with a view to developing common indicators and collecting comparative data on the disabled population in the various Member States of the Union;

9. Believes it is essential to keep separate and give a high profile to the measures in favour of disabled people taken in the context of the forthcoming Community Initiative under the Social Fund ; recalls in this connection that this initiative must differ from the measures funded under Article 13 and Article 137 of the Treaty of Amsterdam in paying specific attention to integration in the labour market;

10. Calls for a directive establishing minimum standards for the equipment at and accessibility of work places and urges that a common definition of disability be adopted at EU level;

11. Urges the Commission, finally, to introduce, through the interservice group dealing with policies for disabled people, procedures ensuring that the proposals for Community legislation undergo an 'impact assessment' in the light of the principle of equal opportunities for disabled people on the basis of Declaration No 21 adopted by the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, and the European Disability Forum.